Laser-Induced 3D Graphene Enabled Polymer Composites with Improved Mechanical and Electrical Properties Toward Multifunctional Performance

Conductive graphene-based composites are attracting substantial interest due to their excellent mechanical and electrical properties for potential applications in electronics. Typically, such composites are fabricated by infiltrating the 3D graphene framework with the polymer matrix. However, the production of 3D graphene foams is limited by the challenges in preparing graphene dispersions, while 3D printing presents a significant breakthrough in the fabrication of desired 3D graphene-based structures. Here, the utilization of the 3D printing technique driven by laser-induced graphene (LIG) and a conventional penetration process for assembling graphene-based conductive polymer composites is described. The synergistic integration endowed the proposed 3D-LIG/epoxy composites with an electrical conductivity of 3.54 S m⁻¹ in through-plane, and a tensile strength of ≈5.4 MPa by a 7606% improvement with a high specific strength of 6.8 × 10³ (N m) kg⁻¹. Meanwhile, the flexible composites exhibited an outstanding ductility reaching a 230% tensile-failure strain and a 50% high linear elastic strain. The prepared 3D-LIG/polymer composites thus demonstrated the functionalized behaviors for applications in de-icing, microwave absorption, and flexible sensors.